Student invents ‘Water You Can Eat’ after dehydrated grandma goes to emergency room

Alzheimer’s dementia is a progressive disease of the brain, which damages ones memory and cognitive functions. Those who have dementia eventually lose their ability to live independently due to their impaired memory, which means that they forget even the basic activities they used to do.

As per the latest statistical report, more than 5 millions of American suffer from Alzheimer’s dementia today. According to health care providers, one problem of those with dementia is dehydration.

Drinking 8 glasses of water a day seems to be easy, but for those who have dementia, a simple activity can be synonymous to a herculean task. Apparently, patients with dementia forget to drink enough glasses of water everyday to keep their body hydrated.

And dehydration brings a ton of health problems such as: kidney failure, shock, and even coma. To prevent these health complications, it is only important for dementia patients to be reminded to drink plenty of water everyday.

Inspired by his grandmother who has Alzheimer’s dementia and forgets to nourish her body with enough water daily, Lewis Hornby of United Kingdom thought of developing a project that can help patients with dementia well hydrated all the time.

The promising student taking Innovation Design Engineering at the Imperial College of London thought of a unique, and simple yet quirky solution to remind patients to replenish their body with water each day.

“For people with dementia the symptoms of dehydration are often mistakenly attributed to their underlying condition, meaning it can easily go unnoticed until it becomes life-threatening,” The promising student shared, explaining what motivated him in developing his innovative invention.

“About a year ago my grandma was unexpectedly rushed to hospital, she was found to be severely dehydrated. Thankfully, after 24 hours on IV fluids she was back to her normal happy self, and is still enjoying a good quality of life to this day.”

Lewis was able to device and produce the ‘Jelly Drops,’ a water that you can eat! The interesting invention resembles a candy that patients with dementia find hard to resist due to its bright and lively colors.

The creative student designed his product to look like luminous gumdrops after seeking guidance from various psychologists and experts in dementia. Apparently, those with dementia are highly attracted to vibrant and striking colors.

According to Lewis, even patients who are not interested in eating a warm meal and drinking cannot say no to the water-filled Jelly Drops he has invented.

In order to ensure that no patient with dementia could ignore and resist his invention, Lewis packed his Jelly Drops inside a transparent and easy to open box. This way, the dementia patients will see the colorful Jelly Drops and will be eager to ‘eat’ them,

“When first offered, grandma ate 7 Jelly Drops in 10 minutes,” Lewis said, beaming with proudness as he successfully baited his grandma into drinking lots of water. “The equivalent to a cup full of water, something that would usually take hours and require much more assistance.”

Lewis’ genius invention holds so much potential that it has already won multiple design awards such as the Dyson School of Design Engineering DESIRE Award for Social Impact. Due to the rising popularity of his remarkable invention, many nursing homes around the United Kingdom are trying out the Jelly Drops to remind their patients to drink plenty of water.

Learn more about the revolutionary invention of Lewis and watch the impressive invention of Lewis as his grandma try the promising Jelly Drops for the very first time! Be sure to share this important news.